Transcript of "3 perfect sarah shepard"

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Look and you will find it—what is unsought will go undetected. —SOPHOCLES

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ContentsEpigraph iiiKeep Your Friends Close… 11Spencer’s Hard Work Pays Off 132Just Another Sexually Charged Day in AP English 223There’s No Such Thing as bad Press 294No Wonder Emily’s Mom is So Strict 365Aria’s All for Literary Reenactments 446Sibling Rivalry’s a Hard Habit to Break 527Nothing Like an Old-Fashioned Interrogation 598It’s Always Good to Read the Book Before Stealing from it 719Everyone, a Big Round of Applause for Spencer Hastings! 8010Someone Didn’t Listen 8611Even High-Tech Security Doesn’t Protect You from Everything 94

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12Ah, Court Life 10413Hello, My Name is Emily. And I’m Gay. 11014Spencer’s Big Close-Up 11715Never, Ever Trust Something as Obsolete as a Fax Machine 12516Someone’s Been Kissing in the Kiln… 13217Because all Cheesy Relationship Moments Happen inCemeteries 14218A Good Smack Upside the Head Never Hurt Anyone 14919It’s Better Than a Sign Saying, “Kick Me” 15820Life Imitates Art 16621What Does H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P Spell? 17522There’s No Place Like Rosewood—From 3,000 Feet Up 18423The Rosebushes Have Eyes 19724And in Another Garden Across Town… 204

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25Special Delivery for Hanna Marin 20826Spencer Gets in Hot Water…Literally and Figuratively 21627Old Habits Die Hard 22128Some of Her Letters Also Spell Jail 23029There’s a Full Moon at the Hollis Planetarium 23830Change is Good…Except When it’s Not 24531They Fought the Law and the Law Won 25232Not-So-Secret Lovers 26033Someone Slips Up. Big Time. 26734It’s Right There in Front of You 27335Words Whispered from the Past 28436It Will all Be Over 29137It Was Necessary 296

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KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE. . . .Have you ever had a friend turn on you? Just totallytransform from someone you thought you knew intosomeone . . . else? I’m not talking your boyfriend fromnursery school who grows up and gets gawky and uglyand zitty, or your friend from camp whom you’ve gotnothing to say to when she comes to visit you overChristmas break, or even a girl in your clique who sud-denly breaks away and turns goth or into one of thosegranola Outward Bound kids. No. I’m talking about yoursoul mate. The girl you know everything about. Whoknows everything about you. One day she turns aroundand is a completely different person. Well, it happens. It happened in Rosewood.“Watch it, Aria. Your face is going to freeze like that.”Spencer Hastings unwrapped an orange Popsicle and slidit into her mouth. She was referring to the squinty-eyed

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2 ✦ SARA SHEPARDdrunk-pirate face her best friend, Aria Montgomery, wasmaking as she tried to get her Sony Handycam to focus. “You sound like my mom, Spence.” Emily Fieldslaughed, adjusting her T-shirt, which had a picture of ababy chicken in goggles on it and said, INSTANT SWIMCHICK! JUST ADD WATER! Her friends had forbiddenEmily from wearing her goofy swimming T-shirts—“Instant Swim Dork! Just add loser!” Alison DiLaurentishad joked when Emily walked in. “Your mom says that too?” Hanna Marin asked,throwing away her green-stained Popsicle stick. Hannaalways ate faster than anyone else. “Your face will freeze thatway,” she mimicked. Alison looked Hanna up and down and cackled.“Your mom should’ve warned you that your butt wouldfreeze that way.” Hanna’s face fell as she pulled down her pink-and-white striped T-shirt—she’d borrowed it from Ali, and itkept riding up, revealing a white strip of her stomach.Alison tapped Hanna’s shin with her flip-flop. “Justjoking.” It was a Friday night in May near the end of seventhgrade, and best friends Alison, Hanna, Spencer, Aria, andEmily were gathered in Spencer’s family’s plushly deco-rated family room, with the Popsicle box, a big bottle ofcherry vanilla Diet Dr Pepper, and their cell phonessplayed out on the coffee table. A month ago, Ali hadcome to school with a brand-new LG flip phone, and the

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PERFECT ✦ 3others had rushed out to buy their own that very day.They all had pink leather holsters to match Ali’s, too—well, all except for Aria, whose holster was made of pinkmohair. She’d knitted it herself. Aria moved the camera’s lever back and forth tozoom in and out. “And anyway, my face isn’t going tofreeze like this. I’m concentrating on setting up this shot.This is for posterity. For when we become famous.” “Well, we all know I’m going to get famous.” Alisonthrust back her shoulders and turned her head to theside, revealing her swanlike neck. “Why are you going to be famous?” Spencer chal-lenged, sounding bitchier than she probably meant to. “I’m going to have my own show. I’ll be a smarter,cuter Paris Hilton.” Spencer snorted. But Emily pursed her pale lips, con-sidering, and Hanna nodded, truly believing. This wasAli. She wouldn’t stay here in Rosewood, Pennsylvania,for long. Sure, Rosewood was glamorous by moststandards—all its residents looked like walk-on models fora Town & Country photo shoot—but they all knew Ali wasdestined for greater things. She’d plucked them out of oblivion a year and a halfago to be her best friends. With Ali by their sides, theyhad become the girls of Rosewood Day, the private schoolthey attended. They had such power now—to deem whowas cool and who wasn’t, to throw the best parties, tonab the best seats in study hall, to run for student office

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4 ✦ SARA SHEPARDand win by an overwhelming number of votes. Well, thatlast one only applied to Spencer. Aside from a few twistsand turns—and accidentally blinding Jenna Cavanaugh,which they tried their hardest not to think about—theirlives had transformed from passable to perfect. “How about we film a talk show?” Aria suggested. Sheconsidered herself the friends’ official filmmaker—one ofthe many things she wanted to be when she grew up wasthe next Jean-Luc Godard, some abstract French director.“Ali, you’re famous. And Spencer, you’re the interviewer.” “I’ll be the makeup girl,” Hanna volunteered, rootingthrough her backpack to find her polka-dotted vinylmakeup bag. “I’ll do hair.” Emily pushed her reddish-blond bobbehind her ears and rushed to Ali’s side. “You havegorgeous hair, chérie,” she said to Ali in a faux-Frenchaccent. Ali slid her Popsicle out of her mouth. “Doesn’t chériemean girlfriend?” The others were quick to laugh, but Emily paled. “No,that’s petite amie.” Lately, Em was sensitive when Alimade jokes at her expense. She never used to be. “Okay,” Aria said, making sure the camera was level.“You guys ready?” Spencer flopped on the couch and placed a rhine-stone tiara left over from a New Year’s party on her head.She’d been carrying the crown around all night. “You can’t wear that,” Ali snapped.

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PERFECT ✦ 5 “Why not?” Spencer adjusted the crown so it wasstraight. “Because. If anything, I’m the princess.” “Why do you always get to be the princess?” Spencermuttered under her breath. A nervous ripple sweptthrough the others. Spencer and Ali weren’t gettingalong, and no one knew why. Ali’s cell phone let out a bleat. She reached down,flipped it open, and tilted it away so no one else couldsee. “Sweet.” Her fingers flew across the keypad as shetyped a text. “Who are you writing to?” Emily’s voice soundedeggshell-thin and small. “Can’t tell. Sorry.” Ali didn’t look up. “You can’t tell?” Spencer was irate. “What do youmean you can’t tell?” Ali glanced up. “Sorry, princess. You don’t have toknow everything.” Ali closed her phone and set it on theleather couch. “Don’t start filming yet, Aria. I have topee.” She dashed out of Spencer’s family room towardthe hall bathroom, plopping her Popsicle stick in thetrash as she went. Once they heard the bathroom door close, Spencerwas the first to speak. “Don’t you just want to kill hersometimes?” The others flinched. They never bad-mouthed Ali. Itwas as blasphemous as burning the Rosewood Day offi-cial flag on school property, or admitting that Johnny

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6 ✦ SARA SHEPARDDepp really wasn’t that cute—that he was actually kind ofold and creepy. Of course, on the inside, they felt a little differently.This spring, Ali hadn’t been around as much. She’d got-ten closer with the high school girls on her JV fieldhockey squad and never invited Aria, Emily, Spencer, orHanna to join them at lunch or come with them to theKing James Mall. And Ali had begun to keep secrets. Secret texts, secretphone calls, secret giggles about things she wouldn’t tellthem. Sometimes they’d see Ali’s screen name online,but when they tried to IM her, she wouldn’t respond.They’d bared their souls to Ali—telling her things theyhadn’t told the others, things they didn’t want anyone toknow—and they expected her to reciprocate. Hadn’t Alimade them all promise a year ago, after the horriblething with Jenna happened, that they would tell oneanother everything, absolutely everything, until the endof time? The girls hated to think of what eighth grade wouldbe like if things kept going like this. But it didn’t meanthey hated Ali. Aria wound a piece of long, dark hair around her fin-gers and laughed nervously. “Kill her because she’s socute, maybe.” She hit the camera’s power switch, turningit on. “And because she wears a size zero,” Hanna added. “That’s what I meant.” Spencer glanced at Ali’s

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PERFECT ✦ 7phone, which was wedged between two couch cushions.“Want to read her texts?” “I do,” Hanna whispered. Emily stood up from her perch on the couch’s arm. “Idon’t know. . . .” She started inching away from Ali’sphone, as if just being close to it incriminated her. Spencer scooped up Ali’s cell. She looked curiously atthe blank screen. “C’mon. Don’t you want to know whotexted her?” “It was probably just Katy,” Emily whispered, refer-ring to one of Ali’s hockey friends. “You should put itdown, Spence.” Aria took the camera off the tripod and walkedtoward Spencer. “Let’s do it.” They gathered around. Spencer opened the phoneand pushed a button. “It’s locked.” “Do you know her password?” Aria asked, still filming. “Try her birthday,” Hanna whispered. She took thephone from Spencer and punched in the digits. Thescreen didn’t change. “What do I do now?” They heard Ali’s voice before they saw her. “What areyou guys doing?” Spencer dropped Ali’s phone back onto the couch.Hanna stepped back so abruptly, she banged her shinagainst the coffee table. Ali stomped through the door to the family room,her eyebrows knitted together. “Were you looking atmy phone?”

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8 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Of course not!” Hanna cried. “We were,” Emily admitted, sitting on the couch, thenstanding up again. Aria shot her a look and then hidbehind the camera lens. But Ali was no longer paying attention. Spencer’solder sister, Melissa, a senior in high school, burst intothe Hastings’ kitchen from the garage. A takeout bagfrom Otto, a restaurant near the Hastings’ neighborhood,hung from her wrists. Her adorable boyfriend, Ian, waswith her. Ali stood up straighter. Spencer smoothed herdirty-blond hair and straightened her tiara. Ian stepped into the family room. “Hey, girls.” “Hi,” Spencer said in a loud voice. “How are you, Ian?” “I’m cool.” Ian smiled at Spencer. “Cute crown.” “Thanks!” Spencer fluttered her coal-black eyelashes. Ali rolled her eyes. “Be a little more obvious,” shesingsonged under her breath. But it was hard not to crush on Ian. He had curlyblond hair, perfect white teeth, and stunning blue eyes,and none of them could forget the recent soccer gamewhere he’d changed his shirt midquarter and, for five glo-rious seconds, they’d gotten a full-on view of his nakedchest. It was almost universally believed that his gor-geousness was wasted on Melissa, who was totally prudishand acted way too much like Mrs. Hastings, Spencer’smother. Ian plopped down on the edge of the couch near Ali.“So, what are you girls doing?”

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PERFECT ✦ 9 “Oh, not much,” Aria said, adjusting the camera’sfocus. “Making a film.” “A film?” Ian looked amused. “Can I be in it?” “Of course,” Spencer said quickly. She plopped downon the other side of him. Ian grinned into the camera. “So what are my lines?” “It’s a talk show,” Spencer explained. She glanced atAli, gauging her reaction, but Ali didn’t respond. “I’mthe host. You and Ali are my guests. I’ll do you first.” Ali let out a sarcastic snort and Spencer’s cheeksflamed as pink as her Ralph Lauren T-shirt. Ian let the ref-erence pass by. “Okay. Interview away.” Spencer sat up straighter on the couch, crossing hermuscular legs just like a talk show host. She picked up thepink microphone from Hanna’s karaoke machine andheld it under her chin. “Welcome to the SpencerHastings show. For my first question—” “Ask him who his favorite teacher at Rosewood is,”Aria called out. Ali perked up. Her blue eyes glittered. “That’s a goodquestion for you, Aria. You should ask him if he wantsto hook up with any of his teachers. In vacant parkinglots.” Aria’s mouth fell open. Hanna and Emily, who werestanding off to the side near the credenza, exchanged aconfused glance. “All my teachers are dogs,” Ian said slowly, not gettingwhatever was happening.

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10 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Ian, can you please help me?” Melissa made a clatter-ing noise in the kitchen. “One sec,” Ian called out. “Ian.” Melissa sounded annoyed. “I got one.” Spencer tossed her long blond hair behindher ears. She was loving that Ian was paying more atten-tion to them than to Melissa. “What would your ultimategraduation gift be?” “Ian,” Melissa called through her teeth, and Spencerglanced at her sister through the wide French doors to thekitchen. The light from the fridge cast a shadow acrossher face. “I. Need. Help.” “Easy,” Ian answered, ignoring her. “I’d want a base-jumping lesson.” “Base-jumping?” Aria called. “What’s that?” “Parachuting from the top of a building,” Ianexplained. As Ian told a story about Hunter Queenan, one of hisfriends who had base-jumped, the girls leaned forwardeagerly. Aria focused the camera on Ian’s jaw, whichlooked hewn out of stone. Her eyes flickered for amoment to Ali. She was sitting next to Ian, staring offinto space. Was Ali bored ? She probably had better thingsto do—that text was probably about plans with her glam-orous older friends. Aria glanced again at Ali’s cell phone, which was rest-ing on the cushion of the couch next to her arm. Whatwas she hiding from them? What was she up to?

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PERFECT ✦ 11 Don’t you sometimes want to kill her? Spencer’s questionfloated through Aria’s brain as Ian rambled on. Deepdown, she knew they all felt that way. It might be betterif Ali were just . . . gone, instead of leaving them behind. “So Hunter said he got the most amazing rush whenhe base-jumped,” Ian concluded. “Better than anything.Including sex.” “Ian,” Melissa warned. “That sounds incredible.” Spencer looked to Ali onthe other side of Ian. “Doesn’t it?” “Yes.” Ali looked sleepy, almost like she was in atrance. “Incredible.”The rest of the week had been a blur: final exams, plan-ning parties, more get-togethers, and more tension. Andthen, on the evening of the last day of seventh grade, Aliwent missing. Just like that. One minute she was there,the next . . . gone. The police scoured Rosewood for clues. They ques-tioned the four girls separately, asking if Ali had been act-ing strangely or if anything unusual had happenedrecently. They all thought long and hard. The night shedisappeared had been strange—she’d been hypnotizingthem and had run out of the barn after she and Spencerhad a stupid fight about the blinds and just . . . never cameback. But had there been other strange nights? They con-sidered the night they tried to read Ali’s texts, but not forvery long—after Ian and Melissa left, Ali had snapped out

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12 ✦ SARA SHEPARDof her funk. They’d had a dance contest and played withHanna’s karaoke machine. The mystery texts on Ali’sphone had been forgotten. Next, the cops asked if they thought anyone close toAli might have wanted to hurt her. Hanna, Aria, andEmily all thought of the same thing: Don’t you sometimeswant to kill her? Spencer had snarled. But no. She’d beenkidding. Hadn’t she? “Nobody wanted to hurt Ali,” Emily said, pushing theworry out of her mind. “Absolutely not,” Aria answered too, in her own sep-arate interview, darting her eyes away from the burly copsitting next to her on the porch swing. “I don’t think so,” Hanna said in her interview, fiddlingwith the pale blue string bracelet Ali had made for themafter Jenna’s accident. “Ali wasn’t that close with manypeople. Only us. And we all loved her to death.” Sure, Spencer seemed angry with Ali. But really, deepdown, weren’t they all? Ali was perfect—beautiful, smart,sexy, irresistible—and she was ditching them. Maybe theydid hate her for it. But that didn’t mean any of themwanted her gone. It’s amazing what you don’t see, though. Even whenit’s right in front of your eyes.

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1SPENCER’S HARD WORK PAYS OFFSpencer Hastings should have been sleeping at six-thirty on Monday morning. Instead, she was sitting in atherapist’s blue-and-green waiting room, feeling a littlelike she was trapped inside an aquarium. Her older sis-ter, Melissa, was sitting on an emerald-colored chairopposite her. Melissa looked up from her Principles ofEmerging Markets textbook—she was in an MBA programat the University of Pennsylvania—and gave Spencer amotherly smile. “I’ve felt so much clearer since I started seeing Dr.Evans,” purred Melissa, whose appointment was right afterSpencer’s. “You’re going to love her. She’s incredible.” Of course she’s incredible, Spencer thought nastily.Melissa would find anyone willing to listen to her for awhole uninterrupted hour amazing. “But she might come on a little strong for you, Spence,”Melissa warned, slapping her book closed. “She’s going

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14 ✦ SARA SHEPARDto tell you things about yourself you don’t want to hear.” Spencer shifted her weight. “I’m not six. I can takecriticism.” Melissa gave Spencer a tiny eyebrow-raise, clearlyindicating that she wasn’t so sure. Spencer hid behindher Philadelphia magazine, wondering again why she washere. Spencer’s mother, Veronica, had booked her anappointment with a therapist—Melissa’s therapist—afterSpencer’s old friend Alison DiLaurentis had been founddead and Toby Cavanaugh committed suicide. Spencersuspected the appointment was also meant to sortthrough why Spencer had hooked up with Melissa’sboyfriend, Wren. Spencer was doing fine though. Really.And wasn’t going to her worst enemy’s therapist likegoing to an ugly girl’s plastic surgeon? Spencer fearedshe’d probably come out of her very first shrink sessionwith the mental-health equivalent of hideously lopsidedfake boobs. Just then, the office door swung open, and a petiteblond woman wearing tortoiseshell glasses, a black tunic,and black pants poked her head out. “Spencer?” the woman said. “I’m Dr. Evans. Come in.” Spencer strode into Dr. Evans’s office, which was spareand bright and thankfully nothing like the waiting room.It contained a black leather couch and a gray suede chair.A large desk held a phone, a stack of manila folders, achrome gooseneck lamp, and one of those weighteddrinking-bird toys that Mr. Craft, the earth science teacher,

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PERFECT ✦ 15loved. Dr. Evans settled into the suede chair and gesturedfor Spencer to sit on the couch. “So,” Dr. Evans said, once they were comfy, “I’veheard a lot about you.” Spencer wrinkled her nose and glanced toward thewaiting room. “From Melissa, I guess?” “From your mom.” Dr. Evans opened to the first pageof a red notebook. “She says that you’ve had some tur-moil in your life, especially lately.” Spencer fixed her gaze on the end table next to thecouch. It held a candy dish, a box of Kleenex—of course—and one of those pegboard IQ games, the kind where youjumped the pegs over one another until there was onlyone peg remaining. There used to be one of those in theDiLaurentis family den; she and Ali had solved ittogether, meaning they were both geniuses. “I think I’mcoping,” she muttered. “I’m not, like, suicidal.” “A close friend died. A neighbor, too. That must behard.” Spencer let her head rest on the back of the couch andlooked up. It looked like the bumpily plastered ceilinghad acne. She probably needed to talk to someone—itwasn’t like she could talk to her family about Ali, Toby,or the terrifying notes she’d been getting from the evilstalker who was known simply as A. And her old friends—they’d been avoiding her ever since she’d admitted thatToby had known all along that they’d blinded hisstepsister, Jenna—a secret she’d kept from them for three

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16 ✦ SARA SHEPARDlong years. But three weeks had gone by since Toby’s suicide, andalmost a month had passed since the workers unearthedAli’s body. Spencer was coping better with all of it,mostly, because A had vanished. She hadn’t received anote since before Foxy, Rosewood’s big charity benefit.At first, A’s silence made Spencer feel edgy—perhaps itwas the calm before the hurricane—but as more timepassed, she began to relax. Her manicured nails dislodgedthemselves from the heels of her hands. She started sleep-ing with her desk light off again. She’d received an A+ onher latest calc test and an A on her Plato’s Republic paper.Her breakup with Wren—who had dumped her forMelissa, who had in turn dumped him—didn’t sting somuch anymore, and her family had reverted back intoeveryday obliviousness. Even Melissa’s presence—she wasstaying with the family while a small army renovated hertown house in Philly—was mostly tolerable. Maybe the nightmare was over. Spencer wiggled her toes inside her knee-high buff-colored kidskin boots. Even if she felt comfortableenough with Dr. Evans to tell her about A, it was a mootpoint. Why bring A up if A was gone? “It is hard, but Alison has been missing for years. I’vemoved on,” Spencer finally said. Maybe Dr. Evans wouldrealize Spencer wasn’t going to talk and end their sessionearly. Dr. Evans wrote something in her notebook. Spencer

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PERFECT ✦ 17wondered what. “I’ve also heard you and your sister werehaving some boyfriend issues.” Spencer bristled. She could only imagine Melissa’sextremely slanted version of the Wren debacle—it proba-bly involved Spencer eating whipped cream off Wren’sbare stomach in Melissa’s bed while her sister watchedhelplessly from the window. “It wasn’t really a big deal,”she muttered. Dr. Evans lowered her shoulders and gave Spencer thesame you’re not fooling me look her mother used. “He wasyour sister’s boyfriend first, wasn’t he? And you datedhim behind her back?” Spencer clenched her teeth. “Look, I know it waswrong, okay? I don’t need another lecture.” Dr. Evans stared at her. “I’m not going to lecture you.Perhaps . . .” She put a finger to her cheek. “Perhaps youhad your reasons.” Spencer’s eyes widened. Were her ears workingcorrectly—was Dr. Evans seriously suggesting thatSpencer wasn’t 100 percent to blame? Perhaps $175 anhour wasn’t a blasphemous price to pay for therapy,after all. “Do you and your sister ever spend time together?”Dr. Evans asked after a pause. Spencer reached into the candy dish for a Hershey’sKiss. She pulled off the silver wrapper in one long curl,flattened the foil in her palm, and popped the kiss in hermouth. “Never. Unless we’re with our parents—but it’s

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18 ✦ SARA SHEPARDnot like Melissa talks to me. All she does is brag to myparents about her accomplishments and her insanely bor-ing town house renovations.” Spencer looked squarely atDr. Evans. “I guess you know my parents bought her atown house in Old City simply because she graduatedfrom college.” “I did.” Dr. Evans stretched her arms into the air andtwo silver bangle bracelets slid to her elbow. “Fascinatingstuff.” And then she winked. Spencer felt like her heart was going to burst out ofher chest. Apparently Dr. Evans didn’t care about themerits of sisal versus jute either. Yes. They talked a while longer, Spencer enjoying it moreand more, and then Dr. Evans motioned to the SalvadorDalí melting-clocks clock that hung above her desk toindicate that their time was up. Spencer said good-byeand opened the office door, rubbing her head as if thetherapist had cracked it open and tinkered around in herbrain. That actually hadn’t been as torturous as she’dthought it would be. She shut the therapist’s office door and turnedaround. To her surprise, her mother was sitting in a pale-green wing chair next to Melissa, reading a Main Linestyle magazine. “Mom.” Spencer frowned. “What are you doing here?” Veronica Hastings looked like she’d come straightfrom the family’s riding stables. She was wearing a white

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PERFECT ✦ 19Petit Bateau T-shirt, skinny jeans, and her beat-up ridingboots. There was even a little bit of hay in her hair. “Ihave news,” she announced. Both Mrs. Hastings and Melissa had very seriouslooks on their faces. Spencer’s insides started to whirl.Someone had died. Someone—Ali’s killer—had killedagain. Perhaps A was back. Please, no, she thought. “I got a call from Mr. McAdam,” Mrs. Hastings said,standing up. Mr. McAdam was Spencer’s AP economicsteacher. “He wanted to talk about some essays you wrotea few weeks ago.” She took a step closer, the scent of herChanel No. 5 perfume tickling Spencer’s nose. “Spence,he wants to nominate one of them for a Golden Orchid.” Spencer stepped back. “A Golden Orchid?” The Golden Orchid was the most prestigious essaycontest in the country, the high school essay equivalentof an Oscar. If she won, People and Time would do a fea-ture story on her. Yale, Harvard, and Stanford would begher to enroll. Spencer had followed the successes ofGolden Orchid winners the way other people followedcelebrities. The Golden Orchid winner of 1998 was nowmanaging editor of a very famous fashion magazine. Thewinner from 1994 had become a congressman at 28. “That’s right.” Her mother broke into a dazzlingsmile. “Oh my God.” Spencer felt faint. But not fromexcitement—from dread. The essays she’d turned inhadn’t been hers—they were Melissa’s. Spencer had been

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20 ✦ SARA SHEPARDin a rush to finish the assignment, and A had suggestedshe “borrow” Melissa’s old work. So much had gone onin the past few weeks, it had slipped her mind. Spencer winced. Mr. McAdam—or Squidward, as every-one called him—had loved Melissa when she was hisstudent. How could he not remember Melissa’s essays,especially if they were that good? Her mother grabbed Spencer’s arm and she flinched—her mother’s hands were always corpse-cold. “We’re soproud of you, Spence!” Spencer couldn’t control the muscles around hermouth. She had to come clean with this before she gotin too deep. “Mom, I can’t—” But Mrs. Hastings wasn’t listening. “I’ve already calledJordana at the Philadelphia Sentinel. Remember Jordana?She used to take riding lessons at the stables? Anyway,she’s thrilled. No one from this area has ever been nomi-nated. She wants to write an article about you!” Spencer blinked. Everyone read the PhiladelphiaSentinel newspaper. “The interview and photo shoot are all scheduled,”Mrs. Hastings breezed on, picking up her giant saffron-colored Tod’s satchel and jingling her car keys.“Wednesday before school. They’ll provide a stylist. I’msure Uri will come to give you a blowout.” Spencer was afraid to make eye contact with her mom,so she stared at the waiting-room reading material—anassortment of New Yorkers and Economists, and a big book

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PERFECT ✦ 21of fairy tales that was teetering on top of a Dubble Bubbletub of Legos. She couldn’t tell her mom about the stolenpaper—not now. And it wasn’t as if she was going to winthe Golden Orchid, anyway. Hundreds of people werenominated, from the best high schools all over the coun-try. She probably wouldn’t even make it past the first cut. “That sounds great,” Spencer sputtered. Her mom pranced out the door. Spencer lingered amoment longer, transfixed by the wolf on the cover ofthe fairy tale book. She’d had the same one when she waslittle. The wolf was dressed up in a negligee and bonnet,leering at a blond, naïve Red Riding Hood. It used togive Spencer nightmares. Melissa cleared her throat. When Spencer looked up,her sister was staring. “Congrats, Spence,” Melissa said evenly. “The GoldenOrchid. That’s huge.” “Thanks,” Spencer blurted. There was an eerily famil-iar expression on Melissa’s face. And then Spencer real-ized: Melissa looked exactly like the big bad wolf.

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2 JUST ANOTHER SEXUALLY CHARGED DAY IN AP ENGLISHAria Montgomery sat down in English class on Mondaymorning, just as the air outside the open widow startedto smell like rain. The PA crackled, and everyone in theclass looked at the little speaker on the ceiling. “Hello, students! This is Spencer Hastings, your jun-ior class vice president!” Spencer’s voice rang out clearand loud. She sounded perky and assured, as if she’dtaken a course in Announcements 101. “I want to remindeveryone that the Rosewood Day Hammerheads areswimming against the Drury Academy Eels tomorrow.It’s the biggest meet of the season, so let’s all show somespirit and come out and support the team!” There was apause. “Yeah!” Some of the class snickered. Aria felt an uneasy chill.Despite everything that had happened—Alison’s murder,Toby’s suicide, A—Spencer was the president or VP of

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PERFECT ✦ 23every club around. But to Aria, Spencer’s spiritednesssounded . . . fake. She had seen a side of Spencer othershadn’t. Spencer had known for years that Ali had threat-ened Toby Cavanaugh to keep him quiet about Jenna’saccident, and Aria couldn’t forgive her for keeping sucha dangerous secret from the rest of them. “Okay, class,” Ezra Fitz, Aria’s AP English teacher,said. He resumed writing on the board, printing TheScarlet Letter in his angular handwriting, and then heunderlined it four times. “In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece, HesterPrynne cheats on her husband, and her town forces herto wear a big, red, shameful A on her chest as a reminderof what she’s done.” Mr. Fitz turned from the board andpushed his square glasses up the bridge of his slopednose. “Can anyone think of other stories that have thesame falling-from-grace theme? About people who areridiculed or cast out for their mistakes?” Noel Kahn raised his hand and his chain-link Rolexwatch slid down his wrist. “How about that episode ofThe Real World when the housemates voted for the psychogirl to leave?” The class laughed, and Mr. Fitz looked perplexed.“Guys, this is supposed to be an AP class.” Mr. Fitzturned to Aria’s row. “Aria? How about you? Thoughts?” Aria paused. Her life was a good example. Not longago, she and her family had been living harmoniously inIceland, Alison hadn’t been officially dead, and A hadn’t

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24 ✦ SARA SHEPARDexisted. But then, in a horrible unraveling of events thatstarted six weeks ago, Aria had moved back to preppyRosewood, Ali’s body had been discovered under theconcrete slab behind her old house, and A had outed theMontgomery family’s biggest secret: that Aria’s father,Byron, had cheated on her mother, Ella, with one of hisstudents, Meredith. The news hit Ella hard and shepromptly threw Byron out. Finding out that Aria hadkept Byron’s secret from her for three years hadn’t helpedElla much either. Mother-daughter relations hadn’t beentoo warm and fuzzy since. Of course, it could have been worse. Aria hadn’t got-ten any texts from A in the last three weeks. AlthoughByron was now allegedly living with Meredith, at leastElla had begun speaking to Aria again. And Rosewoodhadn’t been invaded by aliens yet, although after all theweird things that had happened in this town, Ariawouldn’t have been surprised if that were next. “Aria?” Mr. Fitz goaded. “Any ideas?” Mason Byers came to Aria’s rescue. “What aboutAdam and Eve and that snake?” “Great,” Mr. Fitz said absentmindedly. His eyes rest-ed on Aria for another second before looking away. Ariafelt a warm, prickly rush. She had hooked up with Mr.Fitz—Ezra—at Snooker’s, a college bar, before either ofthem knew he would be her new AP English teacher. Hewas the one who’d ended it, and afterward, Aria hadlearned he had a girlfriend in New York. But she didn’t

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PERFECT ✦ 25hold a grudge. Things were going well with her newboyfriend, Sean Ackard, who was kind and sweet and alsohappened to be gorgeous. Besides, Ezra was the best English teacher Aria had everhad. In the month since school had started, he’d assignedfour amazing books and staged a skit based on EdwardAlbee’s “The Sandbox.” Soon, the class was going to do aDesperate Housewives–style interpretation of Medea, theGreek play where a mother murders her children. Ezrawanted them to think unconventionally, and unconven-tional was Aria’s forte. Now, instead of calling her Finland,her classmate Noel Kahn had given Aria a new nickname,Brownnoser. It felt good to be excited about school again,though, and at times she almost forgot things with Ezrahad ever been complicated. Until Ezra threw her a crooked smile, of course. Thenshe couldn’t help but feel fluttery. Just a little. Hanna Marin, who sat right in front of Aria, raisedher hand. “How about that book where two girls are bestfriends, but then, all of a sudden, one of the best friendsturns evil and steals the other one’s boyfriend?” Ezra scratched his head. “I’m sorry . . . I don’t thinkI’ve read that book.” Aria clenched her fists. She knew what Hanna meant.“For the last time, Hanna, I didn’t steal Sean from you!You guys were already. Broken. Up!” The class rippled with laughter. Hanna’s shouldersbecame rigid. “Someone’s a little self-centered,” she

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26 ✦ SARA SHEPARDmurmured to Aria without turning around. “Who said Iwas talking about you?” But Aria knew she was. When Aria had returned fromIceland, she’d been stunned to see that Hanna hadmorphed from Ali’s chubby, awkward lackey to a thin,beautiful, designer-clothes-wearing goddess. It seemedlike Hanna had everything she’d ever wanted: she andher best friend, Mona Vanderwaal—also a transformeddork—ruled the school, and Hanna had even nabbedSean Ackard, the boy she’d pined over since sixth grade.Aria had only gone for Sean after hearing that Hannahad dumped him. But she quickly found out it had beenthe other way around. Aria had hoped she and her old friends might reunite,especially since they’d all received notes from A. Yet, theyweren’t even speaking—things were right back to wherethey’d been during those awkward, worried weeks afterAli’s disappearance. Aria hadn’t even told them aboutwhat A had done to her family. The only ex–best friendAria was still sort of friendly with was Emily Fields—buttheir conversations had mostly consisted of Emily blub-bering about how guilty she felt about Toby’s death, untilAria had finally insisted that it wasn’t her fault. “Well, anyway,” Ezra said, putting copies of The ScarletLetter at the front of each row to pass back, “I want every-one to read chapters one through five this week, and youhave a three-page essay on any themes you see at thebeginning of the book due on Friday. Okay?”

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PERFECT ✦ 27 Everyone groaned and started to talk. Aria slid herbook into her yak-fur bag. Hanna reached down to pickher purse off the floor. Aria touched Hanna’s thin, palearm. “Look, I’m sorry. I really am.” Hanna yanked her arm away, pressed her lipstogether, and wordlessly stuffed The Scarlet Letter into herpurse. It kept jamming, and she let out a frustrated grunt. Classical music tinkled through the loudspeaker, indi-cating the period was over. Hanna shot up from her seatas if it were on fire. Aria rose slowly, shoving her pen andnotebook into her purse and heading for the door. “Aria.” She turned. Ezra was leaning against his oak desk, histattered caramel leather briefcase pressed to his hip.“Everything okay?” he asked. “Sorry about all that,” she said. “Hanna and I havesome issues. It won’t happen again.” “No problem.” Ezra set his mug of chai down. “Iseverything else okay?” Aria bit her lip and considered telling him what wasgoing on. But why? For all she knew, Ezra was as sleazyas her father. If he really did have a girlfriend in NewYork, then he’d cheated on her when he’d hooked upwith Aria. “Everything’s fine,” she managed. “Good. You’re doing a great job in class.” He smiled,showing his two adorably overlapping bottom teeth. “Yeah, I’m enjoying myself,” she said, taking a step

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28 ✦ SARA SHEPARDtoward the door. But as she did, she stumbled over hersuper-high stack-heeled boots, careening into Ezra’s desk.Ezra grabbed her waist and pulled her upright . . . andinto him. His body felt warm and safe, and he smelledgood, like chili powder, cigarettes, and old books. Aria moved away quickly. “Are you okay?” Ezra asked. “Yeah.” She busied herself by straightening her schoolblazer. “Sorry.” “It’s okay,” Ezra answered, jamming his hands in hisjacket pockets. “So . . . see you.” “Yeah. See you.” Aria walked out of the classroom, her breathing fastand shallow. Maybe she was nuts, but she was pretty sureEzra had held her for a second longer than he needed to.And she was certain she’d liked it.

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3 THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS BAD PRESSDuring their free period Monday afternoon, HannaMarin and her best friend, Mona Vanderwaal, were sit-ting in the corner booth of Steam, Rosewood Day’s cof-fee bar, doing what they did best: ripping on people whoweren’t as fabulous as they were. Mona poked Hanna with one end of her chocolate-dipped biscotti. To Mona, food was more like a prop, lesslike something to eat. “Jennifer Feldman’s got some logs,doesn’t she?” “Poor girl.” Hanna mock-pouted. Logs was Mona’sshorthand term for tree-trunk legs: solid and unshapelythighs and calves with no tapering from knees to ankles. “And her feet look like overstuffed sausage casings inthose heels!” Mona cawed. Hanna snickered, watching as Jennifer, who was on thediving team, hung up a poster on the far wall that read,

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30 ✦ SARA SHEPARDSWIM MEET TOMORROW! ROSEWOOD DAY HAMMERHEADSVS. DRURY ACADEMY EELS! Her ankles were hideously thick.“That’s what girls with fat ankles get when they try to wearLouboutins,” Hanna sighed. She and Mona were the thin-ankled sylphs Christian Louboutin shoes were meant for,obviously. Mona took a big sip of her Americano and pulled outher Gucci wallet diary from her eggplant-colored Botkierpurse. Hanna nodded approvingly. They had otherthings to do besides criticize people today, like plan notone but two parties: one for the two of them, and the sec-ond for the rest of Rosewood Day’s elite. “First things first.” Mona uncapped her pen. “TheFrenniversary. What should we do tonight? Shopping?Massages? Dinner?” “All of that,” Hanna answered. “And we definitely haveto hit Otter.” Otter was a new high-end boutique at themall. “I’m loving Otter,” Mona agreed. “Where should we have dinner?” Hanna asked. “Rive Gauche, of course,” Mona said loudly, talkingover the groaning coffee grinder. “You’re right. They’ll definitely give us wine.” “Should we invite boys?” Mona’s blue eyes gleamed.“Eric Kahn keeps calling me. Maybe Noel could come foryou?” Hanna frowned. Despite being cute, incredibly richand part of the über-sexy clan of Kahn brothers, Noel

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PERFECT ✦ 31wasn’t really her type. “No boys,” she decided. “Althoughthat’s very cool about Eric.” “This is going to be a fabulous Frenniversary.” Monagrinned so broadly that her dimples showed. “Can youbelieve this is our third?” Hanna smiled. Their Frenniversary marked the dayHanna and Mona had talked on the phone for three anda half hours—the obvious indicator that they were bestfriends. Although they’d known each other since kinder-garten, they’d never really spoken before cheerleadingtryouts a few weeks before the first day of eighth grade.By then, Ali had been missing for two months andHanna’s old friends had become really distant, so she’ddecided to give Mona a chance. It was worth it—Monawas funny, sarcastic, and, despite her thing for animalbackpacks and Razor scooters, she secretly devouredVogue and Teen Vogue as ravenously as Hanna did. Withinweeks, they’d decided to be best friends and transformthemselves into the most popular girls at school. Andlook: Now they had. “Now for the bigger plans,” Mona said, flippinganother page of her notebook. “Sweet seventeen,” she sangto the MTV My Super Sweet Sixteen melody. “It’s going to rock,” Hanna gushed. Mona’s birthdaywas this Saturday, and she had almost all the partydetails in place. She was going to have it at the HollisPlanetarium, where there were telescopes in everyroom—even the bathrooms. She’d booked a DJ, caterers,

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32 ✦ SARA SHEPARDand a trapeze school—so guests could swing over thedance floor—as well as a videographer, who would filmthe party and simultaneously webcast it onto aJumbotron screen. Mona had carefully instructed gueststo wear formal dress only on the invites. If someoneturned up in jeans or Juicy sweats, security would not-so-politely turn them away. “So I was thinking,” Mona said, stuffing a napkin intoher empty paper coffee cup. “It’s a little last-minute, butI’m going to have a court.” “A court?” Hanna raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “It’s an excuse to get that fabulous Zac Posen dressyou keep frothing over at Saks—the fitting is tomor-row. And we’ll wear tiaras and make the boys bowdown to us.” Hanna stifled a giggle. “We’re not going to do anopening dance number, are we?” She and Mona hadbeen on Julia Rubenstein’s party court last year, and Juliahad made them do a dance routine with a bunch ofD-list male models. Hanna’s dance partner smelled likegarlic and had immediately asked her if she wanted tojoin him in the coatroom. She’d spent the rest of theparty running away from him. Mona scoffed, breaking her biscotti into smallerpieces. “Would I do something as lame as that?” “Of course not.” Hanna rested her chin in her hands.“So I’m the only girl in the court, right?” Mona rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”

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PERFECT ✦ 33 Hanna shrugged. “I mean, I don’t know who else youcould pick.” “We just need to get you a date.” Mona placed thetiniest piece of biscotti in her mouth. “I don’t want to take anyone from Rosewood Day,”Hanna said quickly. “Maybe I’ll ask someone fromHollis. And I’ll bring more than one date.” Her eyes litup. “I could have a whole load of guys carry me aroundall night, like Cleopatra.” Mona gave her a high five. “Now you’re talking.” Hanna chewed on the end of her straw. “I wonder ifSean will come.” “Don’t know.” Mona raised an eyebrow. “You’re overhim, right?” “Of course.” Hanna pushed her auburn hair over hershoulder. Bitterness still flickered inside her whenever shethought about how Sean had dumped her for way-too-tall,I’m-a-kiss-ass-English-student-and-think-I’m-hot-shit-because-I-lived-in-Europe Aria Montgomery, but whatever.It was Sean’s loss. Now that boys knew she was available,Hanna’s BlackBerry inbox was beeping with potential datesevery few minutes. “Good,” Mona said. “Because you’re way too hot forhim, Han.” “I know,” Hanna quipped, and they touched palmslightly in another high five. Hanna sat back, feeling awarm, reassuring whoosh of well-being. It was hard tobelieve that things had been shaky between her and Mona

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34 ✦ SARA SHEPARDa month ago. Imagine, Mona thinking that Hanna wantedto be friends with Aria, Emily, and Spencer instead of her! Okay, so Hanna had been keeping things from Mona,although she’d confessed most of it: her occasionalpurges, the trouble with her dad, her two arrests, the factthat she’d stripped for Sean at Noel Kahn’s party andhe’d rejected her. She’d downplayed everything, worriedMona would disown her for such horrible secrets, butMona had taken it all in stride. She said every diva got introuble once in a while, and Hanna decided she’d justoverreacted. So what if she wasn’t with Sean anymore?So what if she hadn’t spoken to her father since Foxy? Sowhat if she was still volunteering at Mr. Ackard’s burnclinic to atone for wrecking his car? So what if her twoworst enemies, Naomi Zeigler and Riley Wolfe, knew shehad a bingeing problem and had spread rumors abouther around the school? She and Mona were still tight,and A had stopped stalking her. Kids began filtering out of the coffee bar, whichmeant that free period was about to end. As Hanna andMona swaggered through the exit, Hanna realized theywere approaching Naomi and Riley, who had beenhiding behind the giant swirling Frappuccino machine.Hanna set her jaw and tried to hold her head high. “Baaaarf,” Naomi hissed into Hanna’s ear as shepassed. “Yaaaaak,” Riley taunted right behind her. “Don’t listen to them, Han,” Mona said loudly.

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PERFECT ✦ 35“They’re just pissed because you can fit into those Richand Skinny jeans at Otter and they can’t.” “It’s cool,” Hanna said breezily, sticking her nose intothe air. “There’s that, and at least I don’t have invertednipples.” Naomi’s mouth got very small and tense. “That wasbecause of the bra I was wearing,” she said throughclenched teeth. Hanna had seen Naomi’s invertednipples when they were changing for gym the weekbefore. Maybe it was just from the weird bra she had on,but hey—all’s fair in love and the war to be popular. Hanna glanced over her shoulder and shot Naomiand Riley a haughty, condescending look. She felt like aqueen snubbing two grubby little wenches. And it gaveHanna great satisfaction to see that Mona was givingthem the exact same look. That was what best friendswere for, after all.

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4 NO WONDER EMILY’S MOM IS SO STRICTEmily Fields never had practice the day before a meet,so she came straight home after school and noticedthree new items sitting on the limestone kitchen island.There were two new blue Sammy swim towels forEmily and her sister Carolyn, just in time for their bigmeet against Drury tomorrow . . . and there was also apaperback book titled It’s Not Fair: What to Do WhenYou Lose Your Boyfriend. A Post-it note was affixed to thecover: Emily: Thought you might find this useful. I’ll be backat 6. —Mom. Emily absentmindedly flipped through the pages.Not long after Alison’s body had been found, Emily’smother had started surprising her with little cheer-me-ups, like a book called 1001 Things to Make You Smile, abig set of Prismacolor colored pencils, and a walruspuppet, because Emily used to be obsessed with

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PERFECT ✦ 37walruses when she was younger. After Toby’s suicide,however, her mother had merely given Emily a bunchof self-help books. Mrs. Fields seemed to think Toby’sdeath was harder for Emily than Ali’s—probablybecause she thought Toby had been Emily’s boyfriend. Emily sank into a white kitchen chair and shut her eyes.Boyfriend or not, Toby’s death did haunt her. Every night,as she was looking at herself in the mirror while brushingher teeth, she thought she saw Toby standing behind her.She couldn’t stop going over that fateful night when he’dtaken her to Foxy. Emily had told Toby that she’d been inlove with Alison, and Toby had admitted he was glad Aliwas dead. Emily had immediately assumed Toby was Ali’skiller and had threatened to call the cops. But by the timeshe realized just how wrong she was, it was too late. Emily listened to the small settling sounds of herempty house. She stood up, picked up the cordless phoneon the counter and dialed a number. Maya answered inone ring. “Carolyn’s at Topher’s,” Emily said in a low voice.“My mom’s at a PTA meeting. We have a whole hour.” “The creek?” Maya whispered. “Yep.” “Six minutes,” Maya declared. “Time me.” It took Emily two minutes to slip out the back door,sprint across her vast, slippery lawn, and dive into thewoods to the secluded little creek. Alongside the waterwas a smooth, flat rock, perfect for two girls to sit on. She

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38 ✦ SARA SHEPARDand Maya had discovered the secret creek spot two weeksago, and they’d been hiding away here as much as theypossibly could. In five minutes and forty-five seconds, Maya emergedthrough the trees. She looked adorable as usual, in herplain white T-shirt, pale pink miniskirt, and red suedePuma sneakers. Even though it was October, it was almosteighty degrees out. She had pulled her hair back from herface, showing off her flawless, caramel-colored skin. “Hey,” Maya cried, a little out of breath. “Under sixminutes?” “Barely,” Emily teased. They both plopped down on the rock. For a second,neither of them spoke. It was so much quieter back herein the woods than by the street. Emily tried not to thinkabout how she had run from Toby through these verywoods a few weeks ago. Instead, she concentrated on theway the water sparkled over the rocks and how the treeswere just starting to turn orange at the tips. She had asuperstition about the big tree she could just make outat the edge of her backyard: if its leaves turned yellow inthe fall, she would have a good school year. If theyturned red, she wouldn’t. But this year, the leaves wereorange—did that mean so-so? Emily had all sorts ofsuperstitions. She thought the world was fraught withsigns. Nothing was random. “I missed you,” Maya whispered in Emily’s ear. “Ididn’t see you at school today.”

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PERFECT ✦ 39 A shiver passed through Emily as Maya’s lips grazedher earlobe. She shifted her position on the rock, movingcloser to Maya. “I know. I kept looking for you.” “Did you survive your bio lab?” Maya asked, curlingher pinkie around Emily’s. “Uh-huh.” Emily slid her fingers up Maya’s arm.“How was your history test?” Maya wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Does this make it better?” Emily pecked Maya on thelips. “You’ll have to try harder than that to make it better,”Maya said seductively, lowering her green-yellow catlikeeyes and reaching for Emily. They had decided to try this: sitting together, hangingout whenever they could, touching, kissing. As much asEmily tried to edit Maya from her life, she couldn’t.Maya was wonderful, nothing like Em’s last boyfriend,Ben—nothing, in fact, like any boy she’d ever gone outwith. There was something so comforting about beinghere at the creek side by side. They weren’t just together—they were also best friends. This was how coupledomshould feel. When they pulled away, Maya slid off a sneaker anddipped her toe into the creek. “So we moved back intoour house yesterday.” Emily drew in her breath. After the workers had foundAli’s body in Maya’s new backyard, the St. Germains hadmoved to a hotel to escape the media. “Is it . . . weird?”

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40 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “It’s okay.” Maya shrugged. “Oh, but get this. There’sa stalker on the loose.” “What?” “Yeah, a neighbor was telling my mom about it thismorning. Someone’s running around through people’syards, peeping into windows.” Emily’s stomach began to hurt. This, too, remindedher of Toby: back when they were in sixth grade, he wasthe creepy kid who peeked into everyone’s windows,especially Ali’s. “Guy? Girl?” Maya shook her head. “I don’t know.” She blew hercurly bangs up into the air. “This town, I swear to God.Weirdest place on earth.” “You must miss California,” Emily said softly, paus-ing to watch a bunch of birds lift off from a nearby oaktree. “Not at all, actually.” Maya touched Emily’s wrist.“There are no Emilys in California.” Emily leaned forward and kissed Maya softly on herlips. They held their lips together for five long seconds.She kissed Maya’s earlobe. Then Maya kissed her bottomlip. They pulled away and smiled, the afternoon sun mak-ing pretty patterns on their cheeks. Maya kissed Emily’snose, then her temples, then her neck. Emily shut hereyes, and Maya kissed her eyelids. She took a deepbreath. Maya ran her delicate fingers along the edge ofEmily’s jaw; it felt like a million butterflies flapping theirwings against her skin. As much as she’d been trying to

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PERFECT ✦ 41convince herself that being with Maya was wrong, it wasthe only thing that felt right. Maya pulled away. “So, I have a proposal for you.” Emily smirked. “A proposal. Sounds serious.” Maya pulled her hands into her sleeves. “How aboutwe make things more open?” “Open?” Emily repeated. “Yeah.” Maya ran her finger up and down the lengthof Emily’s arm, giving her goose bumps. Emily couldsmell Maya’s banana gum, a smell she now found intox-icating. “Meaning we hang out inside your house. Wehang out at school. We . . . I don’t know. I know you’renot ready to be, like, out with this, Em, but it’s hardspending all our time on this rock. What’s going to hap-pen when it gets cold?” “We’ll come out here in snowsuits,” Emily quipped. “I’m serious.” Emily watched as a stiff wind made the tree branchesknock together. The air suddenly smelled like burningleaves. She couldn’t invite Maya inside her house becauseher mother had already made it clear that she didn’t wantEmily to be friends with Maya . . . for terrible, almost-definitely racist reasons. But it wasn’t like Emily was goingto tell Maya that. And as for the other thing, coming out—no. She closed her eyes and thought of the picture A hadtexted her a while ago—the one of Emily and Maya kissingin the photo booth at Noel Kahn’s party. She winced. Shewasn’t ready for people to know.

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42 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “I’m sorry I’m slow,” Emily said. “But this is what I’mcomfortable with right now.” Maya sighed. “Okay,” she said in an Eeyore-ish voice.“I’ll just have to deal.” Emily stared into the water. Two silvery fish swamtightly together. Whenever one turned, the other turnedtoo. They were like those needy couples who made outin the hallway and practically stopped breathing whenthey were separated. It made her a little sad to realize sheand Maya could never be one of those couples. “So,” Maya said, “nervous about your swim meettomorrow?” “Nervous?” Emily frowned. “Everyone’s going to be there.” Emily shrugged. She’d competed in much bigger swim-ming events than this—there had been camera crews atnationals last year. “I’m not worried.” “You’re braver than I am.” Maya shoved her sneakerback onto her foot. But Emily wasn’t so sure about that. Maya seemedbrave about everything—she ignored the rules that saidyou had to wear the Rosewood Day uniform and showedup in her white denim jacket every day. She smoked potout her bedroom window while her parents were at thestore. She said hi to kids she didn’t know. In that way,she was just like Ali—totally fearless. Which was probablywhy Emily had fallen for both of them. And Maya was brave about this—who she was, what

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PERFECT ✦ 43she wanted, and who she wanted to be with. She didn’tcare if people found out. Maya wanted to be with Emily,and nothing was going to stop her. Maybe somedayEmily would be as brave as Maya. But if it was up to her,that would be someday far, far away.

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5 ARIA’S ALL FOR LITERARY REENACTMENTSAria perched on the back bumper of Sean’s Audi, skim-ming through her favorite Jean-Paul Sartre play, No Exit. Itwas Monday after school, and Sean said he would give hera ride home after he grabbed something from the soccercoach’s office . . . only he was taking an awfully long-asstime. As she flipped to Act II, a group of nearly identicalblond, long-legged, Coach-bag-toting Typical RosewoodGirls strode into the student parking lot and gave Aria asuspicious once-over. Apparently Aria’s platform bootsand gray knitted earflap hat indicated she was surely up tosomething nefarious. Aria sighed. She was trying her hardest to adjust toRosewood again, but it wasn’t easy. She still felt like apunked-out, faux-leather-wearing, free-thinking Bratzdoll in a sea of Pretty Princess of Preppyland Barbies. “You shouldn’t sit on the bumper like that,” said a

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PERFECT ✦ 45voice behind her, making Aria jump. “Bad for the suspen-sion.” Aria swiveled around. Ezra stood a few feet away. Hisbrown hair was standing up in messy peaks and his blaz-er was even more rumpled than it had been this morning.“I thought you literary types were hopeless when it cameto cars,” she joked. “I’m full of surprises.” Ezra shot her a seductive smile.He reached into his worn leather briefcase. “Actually, Ihave something for you. It’s an essay about The ScarletLetter, questioning whether adultery is sometimes permis-sible.” Aria took the photocopied pages from him. “I don’tthink adultery is permissible or forgivable,” she saidsoftly. “Ever.” “Ever is a long time,” Ezra murmured. He was stand-ing so close, Aria could see the dark-blue flecks in hislight-blue eyes. “Aria?” Sean was right next to her. “Hey!” Aria cried, startled. She jumped away fromEzra as if he were loaded with electricity. “You . . . you alldone?” “Yep,” Sean said. Ezra stepped forward. “Hey, Sean is it? I’m Ez—Imean, Mr. Fitz, the new AP English teacher.” Sean shook his hand. “I just take regular English. I’mAria’s boyfriend.” A flicker of something—disappointment, maybe—passed

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46 ✦ SARA SHEPARDover Ezra’s face. “Cool,” he stumbled. “You play soccer,right? Congrats on your win last week.” “That’s right,” Sean said modestly. “We have a goodteam this year.” “Cool,” Ezra said again. “Very cool.” Aria felt like she should explain to Ezra why she andSean were together. Sure, he was a Typical RosewoodBoy, but he was really much deeper. Aria stopped herself.She didn’t owe Ezra any explanations. He was her teacher. “We should go,” she said abruptly, taking Sean’s arm.She wanted to get out of here before either of them embar-rassed her. What if Sean made a grammatical error? Whatif Ezra blurted that they’d hooked up? No one atRosewood knew about that. No one, that was, except for A. Aria slid into the passenger seat of Sean’s tidy, pine-smelling Audi, feeling itchy. She longed for a few privateminutes to collect herself, but Sean slumped into thedriver’s seat right next to her and pecked her on thecheek. “I missed you today,” he said. “Me too,” Aria answered automatically, her voicetight in her throat. As she peeked through her side win-dow, she saw Ezra in the teacher’s lot, climbing into hisbeat-up, old-school VW Bug. He had added a new stick-er to the bumper—ECOLOGY HAPPENS—and it looked likehe’d washed the car over the weekend. Not that she wasobsessively checking or anything. As Sean waited for other students to back out in frontof him, he rubbed his cleanly shaven jaw and fiddled

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PERFECT ✦ 47with the collar of his fitted Penguin polo. If Sean andEzra had been types of poetry, Sean would have been ahaiku—neat, simple, beautiful. Ezra would have been oneof William Burroughs’s messy fever dreams. “Want tohang out later?” Sean asked. “Go out to dinner? Hangwith Ella?” “Let’s go out,” Aria decided. It was so sweet how Seanliked to spend time with Ella and Aria. The three of themhad even watched Ella’s Truffaut DVD collectiontogether—in spite of the fact that Sean said he reallydidn’t understand French films. “One of these days you’ll have to meet my family.”Sean finally pulled out of the Rosewood lot behind anAcura SUV. “I know, I know,” Aria said. She felt nervous aboutmeeting Sean’s family—she’d heard they were wildly richand super-perfect. “Soon.” “Well, Coach wants the soccer team to go to that bigswim meet tomorrow for school support. You’re going towatch Emily, right?” “Sure,” Aria answered. “Well, maybe Wednesday, then? Dinner?” “Maybe.” As they pulled onto the wooded road that paralleledRosewood Day, Aria’s Treo chimed. She pulled it outnervously—her knee-jerk response whenever she got a textwas that it would be A, even though A seemed to begone. The new text, however, was from an unfamiliar 484

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48 ✦ SARA SHEPARDnumber. A’s notes always came up “unavailable.” Sheclicked READ. Aria: We need to talk. Can we meet outside the Hollis art building today at 4:30? I’ll be on campus waiting for Meredith to finish teaching. I’d love for us to chat. —Your dad, Byron Aria stared at the screen in disgust. It was disturbingon so many levels. One, her dad had a cell phone now?For years, he’d shunned them, saying they gave you braincancer. Two, he’d texted her—what was next, a MySpacepage? And three . . . the letter itself. Especially the qualify-ing Your dad at the end. Did he think she’d forgotten whohe was? “You all right?” Sean took his eyes off the winding,narrow road for a moment. Aria read Sean Byron’s text. “Can you believe it?” sheasked when she finished. “It sounds like he just needssomeone to occupy him while he waits for that skank tofinish teaching her class.” “What are you going to do?” “Not go.” Aria shuddered, thinking of the times she’dseen Meredith and her father together. In seventh grade,she and Ali had caught them kissing in her dad’s car, andthen a few weeks ago, she and her younger brother, Mike,had happened upon them at the Victory Brewery. Meredith

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PERFECT ✦ 49had told Aria that she and Byron were in love, but how wasthat possible? “Meredith is a homewrecker. She’s worse thanHester Prynne!” “Who?” “Hester Prynne. She’s the main character in The ScarletLetter—we’re reading it for English. It’s about this womanwho commits adultery and the town shuns her. I thinkRosewood should shun Meredith. Rosewood needs atown scaffold—to humiliate her.” “How about that pillory thing at the fairgrounds?”Sean suggested, slowing down as they passed a cyclist.“You know that wooden contraption with the holes youcan stick your head and arms through? They lock you upin it and you just hang there. We always used to get ourpictures taken in that thing.” “Perfect,” Aria practically shouted. “And Meredithdeserves to have ‘husband-stealer’ branded on her fore-head. Just stitching a red letter A to her dress would betoo subtle.” Sean laughed. “It sounds like you’re really into TheScarlet Letter.” “I don’t know. I’ve only read eight pages.” Aria grewsilent, getting an idea. “Actually, wait. Drop me off atHollis.” Sean gave her a sidelong glance. “You’re going tomeet him?” “Not exactly.” She smiled devilishly. “Ohhhhkay . . .” Sean drove a few blocks through the

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50 ✦ SARA SHEPARDHollis section of town, which was filled with brick andstone buildings, old bronze statues of the collegefounders, and tons of shabby-chic students on bicycles. Itseemed like it was permanently fall at Hollis—the color-ful cascading leaves looked perfect here. As Sean pulledinto a two-hour parking spot on campus, he looked wor-ried. “You’re not going to do anything illegal, are you?” “Nah.” Aria gave him a quick kiss. “Don’t wait. I canwalk home from here.” Squaring her shoulders, she marched into the ArtsBuilding’s main entrance. Her father’s text flashed beforeher eyes. I’m on campus waiting for Meredith to finish teach-ing. Meredith had told Aria herself that she taught studioart at Hollis. She slid by a security guard, who was sup-posed to be checking IDs but was instead watching aYankees game on his portable TV. Her nerves felt jangledand snappy, as if they were ungrounded wires. There were only three studio classrooms in the build-ing that were big enough for a painting class, which Ariaknew, because she’d attended Saturday art school atHollis for years. Today, only one room was in use, so ithad to be the one. Aria burst noisily through the doorsof the classroom and was immediately assaulted by thesmell of turpentine and unwashed clothes. Twelve artstudents with easels set up in a circle swiveled around tostare at her. The only person who didn’t move was thewrinkly, hairless, completely naked old drawing model inthe center of the room. He stuck his bandy little chest

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PERFECT ✦ 51out, kept his hands on his hips, and didn’t even blink.Aria had to give him an A for effort. She spied Meredith perched on a table by the far win-dow. There was her long, luscious brown hair. There wasthe pink spiderweb tattoo on her wrist. Meredith lookedstrong and confident, and there was an irritating, healthypink flush to her cheeks. “Aria?” Meredith called across the drafty, cavernousroom. “This is a surprise.” Aria looked around. All of the students had theirbrushes and paints within easy reach of their canvases.She marched over to the student closest to her, snatcheda large, fan-shaped brush, swiped it in a puddle of redpaint, and strode over to Meredith, dribbling paint as shewent. Before anyone could do anything, Aria painted alarge, messy A on the left breast of Meredith’s delicate,cotton eyelet sundress. “Now everyone will know what you’ve done,” Ariasnarled. Giving Meredith no time to react, she whirled aroundand strode out of the room. When she got out ontoHollis’s green lawn again, she started gleefully, crazilylaughing. It wasn’t a “husband-stealer” brand across herforehead, but it might as well have been. There, Meredith.Take that.

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6 SIBLING RIVALRY’S A HARD HABIT TO BREAKMonday afternoon at field hockey practice, Spencerpulled ahead of her teammates on their warm-up laparound the field. It had been an unseasonably warm dayand the girls were all a little slower than usual. KirstenCullen pumped her arms to catch up. “I heard about theGolden Orchid,” Kirsten said breathlessly, readjustingher blond ponytail. “That’s awesome.” “Thanks.” Spencer ducked her head. It was amazinghow fast the news had spread at Rosewood Day—hermother had only told her six hours ago. At least tenpeople had come up to talk to her about it since then. “I heard John Mayer won a Golden Orchid when hewas in high school,” Kirsten continued. “It was, like, anessay for AP music theory.” “Huh.” Spencer was pretty sure John Mayer hadn’twon it—she knew every winner from the past fifteen years.

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PERFECT ✦ 53 “I bet you’ll win,” Kirsten said. “And then you’ll beon TV! Can I come with you for your debut on the Todayshow?” Spencer shrugged. “It’s a really cutthroat competi-tion.” “Shut up.” Kirsten slapped her on the shoulder. “You’realways so modest.” Spencer clenched her teeth. As much as she’d beentrying to downplay this Golden Orchid thing, everyone’sreaction had been the same—You’ll definitely win it. Getready for your close-up!—and it was making her crazy. Shehad nervously organized and reorganized the money inher wallet so many times today that one of her twentieshad split right down the center. Coach McCready blew the whistle and yelled, “Cross-overs!” The team immediately turned and began runningsideways. They looked like dressage competitors at theDevon Horse Show. “You hear about the RosewoodStalker?” Kirsten asked, huffing a little—crossovers wereharder than they looked. “It was all over the news lastnight.” “Yeah,” Spencer mumbled. “He’s in your neighborhood. Hanging out in thewoods.” Spencer dodged a divot in the dry grass. “It’s proba-bly just some loser,” she huffed. But Spencer couldn’thelp but think of A. How many times had A texted herabout something that it seemed no one could have seen?

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54 ✦ SARA SHEPARDNow she looked out into the trees, almost certain she’dsee a shadowy figure. But there was no one. They started running normally again, passing theRosewood Day duck pond, the sculpture garden, and thecornfields. When they looped toward the bleachers,Kirsten squinted and pointed toward the low metalbenches that held the girls’ hockey equipment. “Is thatyour sister?” Spencer flinched. Melissa was standing next to IanThomas, their new assistant coach. It was the very sameIan Thomas Melissa had dated when Spencer was in sev-enth grade—and the same Ian Thomas who had kissedSpencer in her driveway years ago. They finished their loop and Spencer came to a haltin front of Melissa and Ian. Her sister had changed intoan outfit that was nearly identical to what their motherhad been wearing earlier: stovepipe jeans, white tee, andan expensive Dior watch. She even wore Chanel No. 5,just like Mom. Such a good little clone, Spencer thought.“What are you doing here?” she demanded, out ofbreath. Melissa leaned her elbow on one of the Gatorade jugsresting on the bench, her antique gold charm bracelet tin-kling against her wrist. “What, a big sister can’t watch herlittle sister play?” But then her saccharine smile faded,and she snaked an arm around Ian’s waist. “It also helpsthat my boyfriend’s the coach.” Spencer wrinkled her nose. She’d always suspected

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PERFECT ✦ 55Melissa had never gotten over Ian. They’d broken upshortly after graduation. Ian was still as cute as ever, withhis blond, wavy hair, beautifully proportioned body, andlazy, arrogant smile. “Well, good for you,” Spenceranswered, wanting out of this conversation. The less shespoke to Melissa, the better—at least until the GoldenOrchid thing was over. If only the judges would hurry thehell up and knock Spencer’s plagiarized paper out of therunning. She reached for her gear bag, pulled out her shinguards, and fastened one around her left shin. Then shefastened the other around her right. Then she unfastenedboth, refastening them much tighter. She pulled up hersocks and then pulled them down again. Repeat, repeat,repeat. “Someone’s awfully OCD today,” Melissa teased. Sheturned to Ian. “Oh, did you hear the big Spencer news?She won the Golden Orchid. The Philadelphia Sentinel iscoming over to interview her this week.” “I didn’t win,” Spencer barked quickly. “I was onlynominated.” “Oh, I’m sure you will win,” Melissa simpered, in away Spencer couldn’t quite read. When her sister gaveSpencer a wink, she felt a pinch of terror. Did she know? Ian let out a whistle. “A Golden Orchid? Damn! YouHastings sisters—smart, beautiful, and athletic. You shouldsee the way Spence tears up the field, Mel. She plays amean center.”

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56 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Melissa pursed her shiny lips, thinking. “Rememberwhen Coach had me play center because Zoe hadmono?” she chirped to Ian. “I scored two goals. In onequarter.” Spencer gritted her teeth. She’d known Melissacouldn’t be charitable for long. Yet again, Melissa hadturned something completely innocent into a competi-tion. Spencer scrolled through the long list in her headfor an appropriate fake-nice insult but then decided toscrew it. This wasn’t the time to pick a fight with Melissa.“I’m sure it rocked, Mel,” she conceded. “I bet you’re away better center than I am.” Her sister froze. The little gremlin that Spencer wascertain lived inside Melissa’s head was confused. Clearlyit hadn’t expected Spencer to say something nice. Spencer smiled at her sister and then at Ian. He heldher gaze for a moment and then gave her a little conspir-atorial wink. Spencer’s insides flipped. She still got gooey when Ianlooked at her. Even three years later, Spencer remem-bered every single detail about their kiss. Ian had beenwearing a soft gray Nike T-shirt, green army shorts, andbrown Merrills. He smelled like cut grass and cinnamongum. One second, Spencer was giving him a good-byepeck on his cheek—she’d gone out to flirt, nothing more.The next second, he was pressing her up against the sideof his car. Spencer had been so surprised, she’d kept hereyes open.

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PERFECT ✦ 57 Ian blew the whistle, breaking Spencer out of herthoughts. She jogged back to her team, and Ian followed.“All right, guys.” Ian clapped his hands. The team sur-rounded him, taking in Ian’s golden face longingly.“Please don’t hate me, but we’re going to do Indiansprints, crouching drills, and hill running today. Coach’sorders.” Everyone, including Spencer, groaned. “I told you notto hate me!” Ian cried. “Can’t we do something else?” Kirsten whined. “Just think how much butt you’re going to kick forour game against Pritchard Prep,” Ian said. “And howabout this? If we get through the entire drill, I’ll take youguys to Merlin after practice tomorrow.” The hockey team whooped. Merlin was famous for itslow-calorie chocolate ice cream that tasted better thanthe full-fat stuff. As Spencer leaned over the bench to fasten her shinguards—again—she felt Ian standing above her. When sheglanced up at him, he was smiling. “For the record,” Iansaid in a low voice, shadowing his face from her team-mates, “you play center better than your sister does. Noquestion about it.” “Thanks.” Spencer smiled. Her nose tickled with thesmell of cut grass and Ian’s Neutrogena sunscreen. Herheart pitter-pattered. “That means a lot.” “And I meant the other stuff, too.” The left corner ofIan’s mouth pulled up into a half-smile.

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58 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Spencer felt a faint, trembling thrill. Did he mean the“smart” and “beautiful” stuff ? She glanced across thefield to where Melissa was standing. Her sister leanedover her BlackBerry, not paying a bit of attention. Good.

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7 NOTHING LIKE AN OLD-FASHIONED INTERROGATIONMonday evening, Hanna parked her Prius in her sidedriveway and hopped out. All she had to do was changeclothes, and then she was off to meet Mona for theirdinner. Showing up in her Rosewood Day blazer andpleated skirt would be an insult to the institution ofFrenniversaries. She had to get out of these long sleeves—she’d been sweating all day. Hanna had spritzed herselfwith her Evian mineral water spray bottle about a hun-dred times on the drive home, but she still felt over-heated. When she rounded the corner, she noticed her mother’schampagne-colored Lexus next to the garage and stoppedshort. What was her mom doing home? Ms. Marin usuallyworked über-long hours at McManus & Tate, her Phila-delphia advertising firm. She often didn’t get back untilafter 10 P.M.

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60 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Then Hanna noticed the four other cars, stuffed oneafter the other against the garage: the silver Mercedescoupe was definitely Spencer’s, the white Volvo Emily’s,and the clunky green Subaru Aria’s. The last car was awhite Ford with the words ROSEWOOD POLICE DEPART-MENT emblazoned on the side. What the hell? “Hanna.” Hanna’s mother stood on the side porch. She still hadon her sleek black pantsuit and high snakeskin heels. “What’s going on?” Hanna demanded, annoyed.“Why are my old friends here?” “I tried calling you. You didn’t pick up,” her mothersaid. “Officer Wilden wanted to ask you girls some ques-tions about Alison. They’re out back.” Hanna pulled her BlackBerry out of her pocket. Sureenough, she had three missed calls, all from her mom. Her mother turned. Hanna followed her into the houseand through the kitchen. She paused by the granite-topped telephone table. “Do I have any messages?” “Yes, one.” Hanna’s heart leapt, but then her motheradded, “Mr. Ackard. They’re doing some reorganization atthe burn clinic, and they won’t need your help anymore.” Hanna blinked. That was a nice surprise. “Anyone . . .else?” The corners of Ms. Marin’s eyes turned down, under-standing. “No.” She gently touched Hanna’s arm. “I’msorry, Han. He hasn’t called.”

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PERFECT ✦ 61 Despite Hanna’s otherwise back-to-perfect life, thesilence from her father made her ache. How could he soeasily cut Hanna out of his life? Didn’t he realize she’dhad a very good reason to ditch their dinner and go toFoxy? Didn’t he know he shouldn’t have invited hisfiancée, Isabel, and her perfect daughter, Kate, to theirspecial weekend? But then, Hanna’s father would be mar-rying plain, squirrelly Isabel soon—and Kate would offi-cially be his stepdaughter. Maybe he hadn’t called Hannaback because Hanna was one daughter too many. Whatever, Hanna told herself, taking off her blazerand straightening her sheer pink Rebecca Taylorcamisole. Kate was a prissy bitch—if her father chose Kateover her, then they deserved each other. When she looked through the French doors to theback porch, Spencer, Aria, and Emily were indeed sittingaround the giant teak patio table, the light from thestained-glass window sparkling against their cheeks.Officer Wilden, the newest member of Rosewood’spolice force and Ms. Marin’s newest boyfriend, stoodnear the Weber grill. It was surreal to see her three ex–best friends here. Thelast time they’d sat on Hanna’s back porch had been atthe end of seventh grade—and Hanna had been the dorki-est and ugliest of the group. But now, Emily’s shouldershad broadened and her hair had a slight greenish tint.Spencer looked stressed and constipated. And Aria was azombie, with her black hair and pale skin. If Hanna was

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62 ✦ SARA SHEPARDa couture Proenza Schouler, then Aria was a pilly, ill-fitting sweatshirt dress from the Target line. Hanna took a deep breath and pushed through theFrench doors. Wilden turned around. There was a seriouslook on his face. The tiniest bit of a black tattoo peeked outfrom under the collar of his cop uniform. It still amazedHanna that Wilden, a former Rosewood Day badass, hadgone into law enforcement. “Hanna. Have a seat.” Hanna scraped a chair back from the table andslumped down next to Spencer. “Is this going to takelong?” She examined her pink diamond-encrusted Diorwatch. “I’m late for something.” “Not if we get started,” Wilden looked around at allof them. Spencer stared at her fingernails, Aria chompedon her gum with her eyes freakishly closed, and Emilyfixated on the citronella candle in the middle of thetable, like she was about to cry. “First thing,” Wilden said. “Someone has leaked ahomemade video of you girls to the press.” He glanced atAria. “It was one of the videos you gave the RosewoodPD years ago. So you might see it on TV—all the newschannels got it. We’re looking for whoever leaked it—andthey’ll be punished. I wanted to let you girls know first.” “Which video is it?” Aria asked. “Something about text messages?” he answered. Hanna sat back, trying to remember which video itcould be—there were so many. Aria used to be obsessiveabout videotaping them. Hanna had always tried her

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PERFECT ✦ 63hardest to duck out of every shot, because for her, thecamera added not ten pounds but twenty. Wilden cracked his knuckles and fiddled with aphallic-looking pepper grinder that sat in the center ofthe table. Some pepper spilled on the tablecloth, and theair immediately smelled spicy. “The other thing I want totalk about is Alison herself. We have reason to believethat Alison’s killer might be someone from Rosewood.Someone who possibly still lives here today . . . and thatperson may still be dangerous.” Everyone drew in a breath. “We’re looking at everything with a fresh eye,” Wildenwent on, rising from the table and strolling around withhis hands clasped behind his back. He’d probably seensomeone on CSI do that and thought it was cool. “We’retrying to reconstruct Alison’s life right before she wentmissing. We want to start with the people who knew herbest.” Just then, Hanna’s BlackBerry buzzed. She pulled itout of her purse. Mona. “Mon,” Hanna answered quietly, getting up from herchair and wandering to the far side of the porch by hermother’s rosebushes. “I’m going to be a couple minuteslate.” “Bitch,” Mona teased. “That sucks. I’m already at ourtable at Rive Gauche.” “Hanna,” Wilden called gruffly. “Can you please callwhoever that is back?”

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64 ✦ SARA SHEPARD At the same time, Aria sneezed. “Bless you,” Emilysaid. “Where are you?” Mona sounded suspicious. “Areyou with someone?” “I’m at home,” Hanna answered. “And I’m withEmily, Aria, Spencer, and Off—” “You’re with your old friends?” Mona interrupted. “They were here when I got home,” Hanna protested. “Let me get this straight.” Mona’s voice rose higher.“You invited your old friends to your house. On the nightof our Frenniversary.” “I didn’t invite them.” Hanna laughed. It was still hardto believe Mona could feel threatened by her old friends.“I was just—” “You know what?” Mona cut her off. “Forget it. TheFrenniversary is cancelled.” “Mona, don’t be—” Then she stopped. Wilden wasnext to her. He plucked the phone from her hand and snapped itshut. “We’re discussing a murder,” he said in a low voice.“Your social life can wait.” Hanna glared at him behind his back. How dareWilden hang up her phone! Just because he was datingher mom didn’t mean he could get all dadlike on her.She stormed back to the table, trying to calm down.Mona was the queen of overreacting, but she couldn’t iceHanna out for long. Most of their fights only lasted a fewhours, tops.

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PERFECT ✦ 65 “Okay,” Wilden said when Hanna sat back down. “Ireceived something interesting a few weeks ago that Ithink we should talk about.” He pulled his notepad out.“Your friend, Toby Cavanaugh? He wrote a suicide note.” “W-we know,” Spencer stuttered. “His sister let usread part of it.” “So you know it mentioned Alison.” Wilden flippedback through his notebook. “Toby wrote, ‘I promisedAlison DiLaurentis I’d keep a secret for her if she kept a secretfor me.’ ” His olive-colored eyes scanned each of them.“What was Alison’s secret?” Hanna slumped down in her seat. We were the ones whoblinded Jenna. That was the secret Toby had kept for Ali.Hanna and her friends hadn’t realized Toby knew that—until Spencer spilled the beans three weeks ago. Spencer blurted out, “We don’t know. Ali didn’t tellany of us.” Wilden’s brow crinkled. He leaned over the patiotable. “Hanna, a while ago you thought Toby killedAlison.” Hanna shrugged impassively. She’d gone to Wildenduring the time they’d thought Toby was A and Ali’skiller. “Well . . . Toby didn’t like Ali.” “Actually, he did like Ali, but Ali didn’t like himback,” Spencer clarified. “He used to spy on her all thetime. But I’m not sure if that had anything to do with hissecret.” Emily made a small whimper. Hanna eyed her

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66 ✦ SARA SHEPARDsuspiciously. All Emily talked about lately was how guiltyshe felt about Toby. What if she wanted to tell Wildenthat they were responsible for his death—and Jenna’s acci-dent? Hanna might have taken the rap for The JennaThing weeks ago when she had nothing to live for, butthere was no way in hell she would confess now. Her lifewas finally back to normal, and she was in no mood tobe known as one of The Psycho Blinders, or whateverthey’d inevitably be called on TV. Wilden flipped a few pages on his pad. “Well, every-one think about it. Moving on . . . let’s talk about thenight Alison went missing. Spencer, it says here that rightbefore she disappeared, Ali tried to hypnotize you. Thetwo of you fought, she ran out of the barn, you ran afterher, but you couldn’t find her. Right?” Spencer stiffened. “Um. Yeah. That’s right.” “You have no idea where she went?” Spencer shrugged. “Sorry.” Hanna tried to remember the night Ali vanished. Oneminute, Ali was hypnotizing them; the next, she wasgone. Hanna really felt like Ali had put her in a trance:as Ali counted down from one hundred, the vanillacandle wafting pungently through the barn, Hanna hadfelt heavy and sleepy, the popcorn and Doritos she’deaten earlier roiling uncomfortably in her stomach.Spooky images began to flicker in front of her eyes: Aliand the others ran through a dense jungle. Large, man-eating plants surrounded them. One plant snapped its

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PERFECT ✦ 67jaws and grabbed Ali’s leg. When Hanna had snappedout of it, Spencer was standing in the doorway of thebarn, looking worried . . . and Ali was gone. Wilden continued to stroll around the porch. Hepicked up a Southwest-style ceramic pot and turned itover, like he was checking for a price tag. Nosy bastard. “Ineed you girls to remember all you can. Think aboutwhat was happening around the time Alison disappeared.Did she have a boyfriend? Any new friends?” “She had a boyfriend,” Aria offered. “Matt Doolittle.He moved away.” As she sat back, her T-shirt slid off hershoulder, revealing a lacy, fire engine red bra strap. Slut. “She was hanging out with these older field hockeygirls,” Emily volunteered. Wilden looked at his notes. “Right. Katy Houghtonand Violet Keyes. I got them. How about Alison’s behav-ior. Was she acting strangely?” They fell silent. Yes, she was, Hanna thought. Shethought of one memory straightaway. On a blustery springday, a few weeks before Ali disappeared, her dad had takenthem both to a Phillies game. Ali was jittery the wholenight, as if she’d downed packs and packs of Skittles. Shekept checking her cell phone for texts and had seemedlivid that her inbox was empty. During the seventh inningstretch, when they sneaked to the balcony to ogle a groupof cute boys sitting in one of the skyboxes, Hanna noticedAli’s hands trembling. “Are you okay?” Hanna asked. Alismiled at her. “I’m just cold,” she explained.

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68 ✦ SARA SHEPARD But was that suspicious enough to bring up? Itseemed like nothing, but it was hard to know what thepolice were looking for. “She seemed okay,” Spencer said slowly. Wilden looked at Spencer dead-on. “You know, myolder sister was a lot like Alison. She was the leader of herclique, too. Whatever my sister said, her friends did.Anything. And they kept all kinds of secrets for her. Isthat how it worked for you guys?” Hanna curled up her toes, suddenly irritated at wherethis conversation was going. “I don’t know,” Emily mumbled. “Maybe.” Wilden glanced down at the vibrating cell phoneclipped to his holster. “Excuse me.” He ducked towardthe garage, pulling his phone from his belt. As soon as he was out of earshot, Emily let out a pent-up breath. “Guys, we have to tell him.” Hanna narrowed her eyes. “Tell him what?” Emily held up her hands. “Jenna is blind. We didthat.” Hanna shook her head. “Count me out. And anyway,Jenna’s fine. Seriously. Have you noticed those Guccisunglasses she wears? You have to get on, like, a year-longwaiting list for a pair of those—they’re harder to scorethan a Birkin bag.” Aria gaped at Hanna. “What solar system are you from?Who cares about Gucci sunglasses?” “Well, obviously not someone like you,” Hanna spat.

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PERFECT ✦ 69 Aria tensed her jaw and leaned back. “What is thatsupposed to mean?” “I think you know,” Hanna snarled. “Guys,” Spencer warned. Aria sighed and turned to face the side yard. Hannaglared at her pointy chin and ski-slope nose. Even Aria’sprofile wasn’t as pretty as hers. “We should tell him about Jenna,” Emily goaded.“And A. The police should handle this. We’re in over ourheads.” “We’re not telling him anything, and that’s final,”Hanna hissed. “Yeah, I don’t know, Emily,” Spencer said slowly, pok-ing her car keys through one of the tabletop’s wide slats.“That’s a big decision. It affects all our lives.” “We’ve talked about this before,” Aria agreed.“Besides, A is gone, right?” “I’ll leave you all out of it,” Emily protested, crossingher arms over her chest. “But I’m telling him. I think it’sthe right thing to do.” Aria’s cell phone chirped and everyone jumped. ThenSpencer’s Sidekick vibrated, wriggling toward the edge ofthe table. Hanna’s BlackBerry, which she’d shoved backinto her purse, let out a muffled chime. And Emily’s lit-tle Nokia made that old-school telephone ring sound. The last time the girls’ phones all rang at once had beenoutside Ali’s memorial service. Hanna had the same feel-ing she’d had the first time her father had taken her on the

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70 ✦ SARA SHEPARDTilt-a-Whirl at the Rosewood County Fair when she wasfive—that of dizzying nausea. Aria opened her phone.Then Emily, then Spencer. “Oh God,” Emily whispered. Hanna didn’t even bother reaching for her BlackBerry;instead, she leaned over Spencer’s Sidekick. You really thought I was gone? Puh-lease. I’ve been watching you this whole time. In fact, I might be watching you right now. And girls—if you tell ANYONE about me, you’ll be sorry. —A Hanna’s heart throbbed. She heard footsteps andturned around. Wilden was back. He shoved his cell phone into his holster. Then helooked at the girls and raised an eyebrow. “Did I misssomething?” Had. He. Ever.